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Tim Fausch is publishing director of BNP Media’s Architecture, Engineering & Construction, Security and Mechanical Systems Groups, a collection of more than 20 trade magazines, Web sites and e-newsletters. Just don't ask him to use any actual tools. Email Tim at fauscht@bnpmedia.com.

Let's Profit From People's Pain

Now that Thanksgiving is over, we have a few weeks before
the Christmas spirit peaks and we have to be nice to people. Now is the perfect
time to take advantage of people and make some easy money for your company.

Here’s how to do it:

“The secret to closing sales is to identify a person’s pain
and offer a solution,” the sales guru said during the only sales course I ever
took.

According to this guru, once you get people to admit their
area of pain, their defenses crumble. Your goal is to keep them talking,
opening up and sharing their pain. Before long, you’ve got a new sucker-er, I
mean, client.

OK, I am being facetious.

In defense of the sales guru, the pain he referenced was
supposedly along the lines of lousy phone service, slow computers or overpriced
office supplies. But it could just as easily be roofing, plumbing, HVAC,
flooring, granite, water delivery, cleaning, excavation, or any architectural,
engineering or maintenance services.

When the sales guru said we should identify a person’s pain
in order to sell them a product, I felt conflicted. It felt wrong. But upon
reflection, this is nothing more than helping a person get to the point of
telling you specifically what he or she needs and offering your services to
meet those needs.

The A/E/C and maintenance industries do this every day. You
provide services that reduce the work pain that a person or company is
enduring. And you do it extremely well.

But what about closing a sale based on someone’s personal pain,
such as the destruction of his or her home via fire, flood or storm? These are
perilous times. Many people are unemployed, uninsured or out of savings.

Is it OK to profit from their pain? If not, why not?

Shouldn’t construction pros seek this disaster-related work,
maybe even specialize in it? With construction suffering, such disaster work
might just save your company.

This topic came to mind as the California wildfires raged, displacing
thousands, destroying nearly 1,000 residences, and severely damaging hundreds
more homes. These fires are both personal disaster and business opportunity
rolled into one.

Add to fires the litany of similar disasters like
hurricanes, floods, tornados, sewage backups and water intrusion/mold and you
have the makings of a full-time business.

I don’t know anyone who specializes in disaster
reconstruction. But clearly this type of work provides the opportunity to help
people in their time of need. Rather than the greedy charlatans I described in
the opener of this blog, I suspect these specialists often become heroes to
those they serve.

I work for BNP Media, which recently launched a magazine
called Restoration & Remediation for construction
pros specializing in such work. Did we discover an under-served
market, or are we
blood-sucking opportunists? I’m trusting it’s not the latter.

If you’d like more information on the disaster services
field, go to
www.randrmagonline.com.
You should also visit
www.ndrexpo.com,
a
conference and trade show designed for the disaster repair, reconstruction,
remediation and restoration fields, scheduled for June 16-17 in New Orleans.

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Tim Fausch is publishing director of BNP Media’s Architecture, Engineering & Construction, Security and Mechanical Systems Groups, a collection of more than 20 trade magazines, Web sites and e-newsletters. Just don't ask him to use any actual tools. Email Tim at fauscht@bnpmedia.com.

Engineered Systems magazine’s May 2020 issue examines the revitalization of air-cooled chillers in data center facilities, the viability (or lack thereof) of duct systems, the impact the coronavirus is having on the built environment, and much more.